


Of Nightmares & Tea

by pocketsundere



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, This is v romantic and not at all at the same time, Whats better than this? Guys being dudes, but not enough to trigger something bad no worries, but y'all already knew that, stephen is a sweetheart, super platonic hand holding, vague mentions of ptsd and anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-19 23:18:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14883110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketsundere/pseuds/pocketsundere
Summary: Nightmares always come back. But, for one Tony Stark, they never truly go away. In a whim, he asks Stephen Strange for help. Thing is, he's not doing much better himself.Post Av4 one-shot. Was part of the ironstrange week event, but I forgot to post it here.





	Of Nightmares & Tea

“Tea?”

Stephen saw the other man’s shoulders twitch at the sudden break of an uncomfortable silence he had created himself.

He finally turned around, facing Stephen, only to look away seconds later. It seemed like he was on the brink of losing it; he had dark circles under his eyes —a thing that was noticeable even when a pair of red sunglasses were doing a half-assed job at covering it up— and his cheekbones gave away his poor nutrition and lack of self-care.

In all honesty, if there was one thing that kept Tony Stark away from looking like a miserable git was the fact that he was dressed quite nicely.

 _Just a detail_ , Stephen thought.

He understood Tony in ways that were almost imposible to comprehend. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they both fought side by side a couple of months ago. Maybe it was just because they came from a similar background, a simple thing that was produced over the fact that they both used to be top-class assholes.

“Can you,  _like_ , not do that? I’m here, trying not lose my cool, and you-” Tony paused, hand on his forehead. That was enough for Stephen to deduce that it was involuntary. He was probably trying to not trip over his words, to not seem weak. “T-talk out of the blue like that. You freaked me out.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow, a basic attempt to break the tension. “So, does that means you don’t want tea?”

“This was a bad idea.” was Tony’s reply. The man started to walk in circles, massaging the sides of his head as if a migraine was about to strike him.

“What was?” The Sorcerer let out a short breath that could’ve easily been mistaken by a laugh. He looked at Tony, observed how he took off his sunglasses, returning his gaze.

That’s right, Stephen had absolutely no idea why Tony would even be here in the first place. He didn’t call, or e-mailed him about his visit. And when he showed up at the Sanctum’s doorstep about fifteen minutes ago, he whispered a soft greeting and made his way inside, as if he owned the place.

After that, there was only silence, and Tony’s ocassional lip-trembling.

One would assume that seeing him in such a fragile state was extremely uncharacteristic of him. Not when you had watched him be extremely terrified at a Mad Titan yet still ended up fighting said Titan while being in planet that neither of you had previous knowledge of, it’s not.

Especially if you did just that more than fourteen million times.

So it wasn’t because they bonded during their short stay in Titan, or because they happened to share a couple of personality traits. No, Stephen understood him simply because they had been through everything together, over and over again.

Did it matter that Tony was unaware of all of this, mainly because Stephen had never truly had the courage to tell him about it? No, not really. He just had to make sure not to stare at Earth’s Greatest Defender for a bit too long. As well as to stop the romantic feelings that inevitably took over him in more than one reality, from turning into something that neither he or his magic could fix.

Tony not knowing about this just made things a little easier for Stephen. At least he was saving himself, and Tony along the way, from an awkward conversation along the lines of: ‘So, there are about four hundred thousand realities in which I fall deeply in love with you. You return my feelings in more than half of those. But don’t think too much about it, it’s just an inevitable possibility that’s beyond our reaching.’

_And now I’m thinking about it. Again. I thought I already went through this. I thought-_

“I was thinking you could help me,  _y'know_ , with these things that I’ve been feeling lately.” Tony interrupted Stephen’s anxious thoughts. “Don’t laugh.”

Those two words left Tony’s mouth almost like a whimper. It was so painful to hear that it might’ve broken his heart just a little bit.

“Tony, I would never,” He tried to imitate a reassuring voice, a thing he barely used. “ever laugh at something like that.”

He managed to find guts to step closer to him, yet still held himself back from any kind of physical contact. Because he had realised that avoiding all those realities did not mean he was over them. Not at all, it seemed.

And then he watched Tony shy away from this new-born intimacy, building an invinsible barrier between them. Stephen didn’t blame him. A panicked body often rejects any type of affection, be it physical or sentimental.

And Tony was the embodiment of panic as of right now.

“Listen, Stephen, I’ve been having these…recurring dreams. Thanos isn’t dead, he destroys everything I’ve ever loved  _again_. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter, The Avengers,  _you_. All gone. You know the deal, chaos and destruction.”

All Stephen could do was give him an understanding nod, pointing in the direction of what he’d call The Sanctum’s living-room. They sat in two aesthetically pleasing —according to Tony— wooden chairs that were facing each other, with only a coffee table separating them.

This situation reminded him of the time he helped Thor Odinson find his now deceased father. He almost smiled at how humorous the whole thing had been, especially the part where he teletransported the God from room to room using his magic.

“I don’t want you to be my shrink, that clear?” Tony scoffed softly.

“Oh,  _please_. I’m no one’s shrink. No one’s worthy of it. Also, not my specialty.” Stephen rolled his eyes as he said that, and Tony mimicked him seconds later, building a perfectly comfortable atmosphere between the two. That’s exactly what Tony needed to keep opening up. Stephen could read him like a book after all.

He heard Tony clear his throat, and raised an eyebrow at said action. “So, Tony. What am I going to be?”

“No need to tease me,  _Merlin_. We’re just talking.” Tony replied with a defensive tone.

“That’s right, we’re just talking.” He pressed his chin against his palm again, brows raised still.

“Jesus, you  _sound_  like a shrink.” Tony shifted on his seat, eyes diverging directions rather quickly. “Listen, I just need you to get inside my head. Can you do that?”

He went into rapid, but deep thought. “Hmm,”

“Just tell me if you’re going to help me or not, so I can leave. Wong told me you’ve been practicing hypnosis, or some weird mumbo-jumbo shit like that, that’s why-”

_Of course he did._

“Indeed, I have been.” Stephen gave him an awkward, tense smile.  _Damn you, Wong. Can’t keep it to yourself, can you?_  “Alright, Tony. I’ll help you out.”

“Do you really mean that? No dirty tricks.”

“Do you really think so little of me even when I literally gave up an infinity stone to spare you from death just because I trusted you enough to save the universe?”

Tony froze and grimaced shorty after. “Fair point.”

“This isn’t going to work if you don’t trust me. Just an FYI.” Stephen was the one to clear his throat this time. “So?”

“I can trust you. I’m all out of options anyway.”

Stephen knew there were no bad intentions behind those words, and the weak laugh that came after only served to confirm it.

After a brief moment of pure quiet, Stephen Strange snapped his fingers, and two dark, oddly-shaped mugs and a kettle appeared before them. “ _Tea_?” Stephen said, with an almost flirty grin across his face. “Looks like you need it.”

“Does it have,  _like_ , dope in it or-?”

Stephen let out a laugh. “Just a little bit of honey. Drink away, Tony.”

And so he did, at least for a short while before blurting some words out. They were so softly spoken that Stephen didn’t quite catch them.

“What?” Stephen asked, sipping his tea and briefly putting it away.

“ _It’s_ \- it’s not the first time this happens. Happened to me after the Chitauri came in and turned New York into a messy disco party. It pisses me off, Strange. I’m a  _grown man_. I should be able to let things go.”

Stephen bit his lip and looked away. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“Do you?”

“You’re not the only one who has nightmares.” Stephen mentioned in a vague manner. “Why do you think I started studying hypnosis? We all have things that haunt us, Tony. It’s up to us to do something about them.”

Tony trembled, and hummed, his constant blinking giving away his nerve-wrecking state. “I just thought that I’d get over it, y'know?”

_Yeah, me too._

“You will, eventually. Try to trust me on this, okay?”

Tony sighed, eyes focused on the floor. He let a hand rest on one the edges of the table. “Okay.”

Stephen removed the gloves from his own hands, and carefully placed them against Tony’s. It was a bold move, especially considering the fact that it was the first time they’d made physical contact with each other, ever. But he didn’t make the wrong call by doing so, it didn’t feel like that at all.

“Okay.” Tony said again, in a softer tone this time, and broke what was left of tension as he intertwined his fingers with Stephen’s, like a man desperate for comfort.

Stephen held his hand tight and closed his eyes. “ _Okay_.”


End file.
